Friday, July 6, 2012

Shirshasana (AKA Sirshana)

Anyone who has attended a class with Sri Dharma
Mittra will know: shirshasana, or headstand, is “the king of all the poses.” It
has earned this moniker because it has numerous and tremendous benefits for all
those who practice it. The best thing about this pose is that you don’t have to
be flexible to do it.

And why would you WANT to stand on your head? The
list of reasons is almost overwhelmingly extensive…

All inverting postures reverse the energetic
flow in our bodies; they increase blood flow to the brain, as well as the glands
in the head and upper torso. According to Sri Dharma Mittra’s book, Asanas: 608 Yoga Poses, “Inversions
recharge the endocrine glands that regulate the immune system and hormonal
production” (146). Inversions can also offer relief for people who suffer from
loss of sleep and/or memory, as well as those who are chronically sluggish. In
postures where your feet are above your head (headstand, shoulderstand, handstand,
and all their variations), the veins of the legs are given a chance to rest,
while toning the internal organs. Headstand is a much more efficient and
deep-reaching “workout” for all the muscles of the torso than, say, crunches.
When we are upside-down, the internal organs suddenly find themselves in a new
relationship to gravity; because they have to work to hold themselves in place
now, you are strengthening the deepest layer of your abdominal muscles. Without
putting in any extra effort, your body is constantly readjusting itself to find
balance in this new orientation, and you become stronger without having to “do”
anything except settle into the pose.

Headstand specifically is said to reverse the
process of aging. The “how” is a little confusing, but bear with me:

In yogic philosophy, the part of our bodies
that corresponds with the sun is located in the navel (our “digestive fire”),
while the moon corresponds to our third eye region. According to yogic thought,
we age because the nectar of the moon naturally drips down (from the pull of
gravity as we stand erect) to the sun region and is gobbled up by the sun’s fiery
energy. Therefore, while in headstand, you can augment the anti-aging qualities
of the pose by mentally chanting, “Surya, Surya, Surya” (sun) and
simultaneously concentrating on the third-eye
region; then chant, “Chandra, Chandra, Chandra” (moon) while concentrating
on the navel region. This is said to
reverse the flow of the moon’s nectar, by using the faculties of our
imagination to “switch” the location of the sun and moon in our subtle bodies
for a few minutes every day.

Yoga Asanas by Swami Sivananda
also states: “This is a panacea, a cure-all, a sovereign specific for all
diseases. It brightens the psychic faculties and awakens Kundalini Sakti,
removes all sorts of diseases of the intestines and stomach and augments mental
power. This is a powerful blood-purifier and nervine tonic. All diseases of the
eye, nose, head, throat, stomach, genitor-urinary system, liver, spleen, lungs…
are cured. Wrinkles and grayness will disappear. ‘He who practices this for
three hours daily conquers time’ –Yoga Tattva
Upanishad.”

With all these wonderful benefits, is there
anybody who should NOT practice shirshasana? People with any of the following
conditions should avoid headstand: detached retina, glaucoma, high blood
pressure (those with low blood pressure should move slowly and carefully in/out
of the posture… then again, so should everybody else!), and/or a herniated
cervical disc. People with these conditions can practice gentler inversions,
such as legs-up-the-wall pose.

This asana should be practiced on an empty
stomach.

Now that you know all these wonderful things
about headstand, you are probably just CLAMORING to try it. So how do we start?

Swami Sivananda tells us: “Do it slowly. Do not
be anxious. Be calm. Be cool. There is eternity before you.” (Yoga Asanas)

Sri Dharma would also remind us to renounce the
fruits of our actions. All those benefits mentioned above? Give them away –
imagine you are doing the pose for someone in need, or for the Supreme Self. It
will enrich your practice in ways that you may not have even imagined.

Now we are ready to start.

It is ideal to begin at the back of your mat,
so that if you roll out of the pose, you will roll onto a softer surface
(beginners can also practice with a wall behind them if they are frightened of
rolling out of the pose). Begin sitting on your heels. Fold your arms, placing
one forearm in front of the other, to approximate the width of your shoulders,
and place your elbows/forearms down on the mat. Leave your elbows where they
are (although it may seem counter-intuitive, you do not want your elbows to
splay out wider than your shoulders), and open up your forearms in order to clasp
the hands and place the pinky-side-edge of the hands down on the mat (so that
your two elbows and the interlaced fingers form three points of an equilateral
triangle).

Jai Sri Dharma – thank
you for the lovely demonstration!

Next, place the top of the head down on the mat,
near the hands. Beginners can have a little bit more weight towards the hairline,
but ideally we rest on the flat part at the very top of the head. We never want
the weight on the back of the head. Your hands should cradle the crown of the
head (around the place where the parietal and occipital lobes of the skull meet).

From here, stand up on your feet.

Begin to walk the feet towards the face, which
will bring the pelvis over the shoulders (focus on the sacrum – the back of the
pelvis – aligning over the back of the neck). If you have very flexible
hamstrings, keep walking towards your face until you sort of can’t anymore – your
feet will come up off the ground naturally, and the knees will move towards the
chest. If you don’t have flexible hamstrings, walk until you actually can’t anymore, and then think
of hugging your knees in towards your chest, bringing your feet off the ground to
come up to a little egg shape. Try not to jump or push too hard to accomplish
this – really use your core to get the knees close to the chest. This is the
hardest part; most times in your first attempt, you will be hesitant to move
the pelvis far enough over the shoulders. It almost feels like your pelvis will
extend slightly past the shoulders,
as pictured below. It feels further than you think will be necessary!

Next, rest here. If this is your first attempt,
congratulations (and if this is your millionth attempt, congratulations)! This
is a huge accomplishment, and you are well on your way to the full pose. Take a
moment to feel steady and close the eyes, concentrating on the space between
the eyebrows. When you can hold this position comfortably for a minute or two,
you are ready to progress to the next stage. Begin to move the knees over the
hips. You may feel the pelvis moving back the other way (towards the face), to
compensate this shift of weight. The biggest mistake most people make is to try
and kick the feet “up”; but when you are upside-down your perception of “up” is
a little off, so most people will kick the legs on a diagonal (inclining them
slightly towards the front side of the body, which then throws you off balance
and causes you to come down out of the pose). To avoid this, keep the knees quite
bent at first, and start to move them upwards.

Eventually, stack the knees directly above the
hips. As you move the knees, it may be helpful to press the forearms down
slightly into the floor, remembering to keep lots of space around your ears and
feeling the neck long (so that your shoulder blades stay firmly rooted down the
back… which in this case is actually up to the ceiling).

The last step (and the easiest), is to
straighten the knees.

Congratulations! You are now in headstand. Try
to keep the breath fluid and easy, always through the nose. Close the eyes and
meditate here. As Sri Dharma says, “Imagine a beautiful, red rose” in that space
behind the forehead. Try to see it in great detail. Start by holding for just a
few seconds, and each day try to increase how long you stay in the pose for
about 15 seconds. Eventually you will be able to stay in this pose for half an
hour, especially if you have most of the weight in the head instead of on the
elbows.

If you fall out of the pose, just stay relaxed
and you will never hurt yourself. If you feel yourself falling, unclasp the
hands and allow the body to roll down.

To come out of the pose, try to reverse the
actions exactly, so as to build strength (bend the knees, slowly bring them
back to the chest, gently touch the feet down to the mat).

Afterwards, rest in child’s pose and don’t come
up too fast. Swami Sivananda says that this is an excellent time for
meditation: “You can hear Anahata [heart chakra] sounds quite distinctly.”

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Dharma Yoga New York Center is one of the oldest schools in NYC specializing in Classical Yoga as prescribed by Yoga Master Sri Dharma Mittra. He teaches daily so that all students have an opportunity to learn from him. Study with a legend and feel the Bliss!

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